Coding + Academics = Future
Did you know that students in preK can begin to learn coding? In this workshop we will be sharing tools that help students learn to code, and that support computational thinking. We will update our materials, and always welcome suggestions.
Makey Makey boards allow students to explore electrical circuitry. The Makey Makey website provides lesson plans (http://makeymakey.com/lessons) and guides (http://makeymakey.com/guides). You may also want to check out Sparkfun for a quick guide.
Most students love to play with LEGOs. The LEGO Mindstorm EV3 kit is a great resource that allows students to build robots. There are many free resources online and a few are listed below.
To learn about how using LEGO Robotics connects to Common Core Math, ELA, and Computer Science, as well as NGSS, check out this page from Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy at http://www.education.rec.ri.cmu.edu/content/lego/ev3/standards/. A LEGO Robotics Course for Absolute Beginners - EV3 is available at https://cs4hsev3robots.appspot.com/course. This course requires that students have a gmail account. Damien Kee has a website that provides a wide range of resources and has been a LEGO trainer. The link to the resource page is http://www.damienkee.com/teaching-resources/. One book that you may find helpful if you choose to also have a FIRST LEGO League team (information at http://firstlegoleague.org/) is The LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Idea Book: 181 Simple Machines and Clever Contraptions. The book shows examples of what may be built, but does not provide directions, and my experience is that students take this book as a resource and learn how to create many more components. Below are a number of resources that may help you learn more about computational thinking.
Google has created a free online course Computational Thinking for Educators that will help “educators integrate computational thinking into curriculum.” For more information (https://computationalthinkingcourse.withgoogle.com ). Is the idea of Computational Thinking new to you? Check out this page from ISTE: https://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?articleid=152&category=Solutions&article=Computational-thinking-for-all. The resources here include a short video as well as two Computational Thinking Toolkits (version 1 and 2, both worth checking out). In addition, there is page that provides computational thinking operational definitions as well as a variety of multimedia that may be useful in introducing computational thinking to students (and for a range of grade levels). In 2011 the National Science Foundation published an article Computational Thinking: A Digital Skill for Everyone. You can find this at http://csta.acm.org/Curriculum/sub/CurrFiles/LLCTArticle.pdf. This is also available on the ISTE page. If you are looking for I Can Statements that address technology this site from Michigan may be helpful. http://www.saugatuckps.com/District/Department/28-SPS-Information-Technology/2231-i-can.html. They include statements for Grades K – 8 and high school. |
Bee-Bots are a great way to introduce young children to problem solve. There are many great resources available online. Below are a few of our favorites.
Making Your Classroom Buzz with Bee-Bots: Ideas and Activities for the Early Phase by ICT Learning Innovation Centre KS1 Bee-Bots 1,2,3 Activities by Barefoot Computing Scratch (https://scratch.mit.edu/) is a free website from MIT. It provides opportunities for students to program stories, games, and animations. Scratch is designed for ages 8 - 16, but you will find learners in high school and college using it, and there is now Scratch Junior (https://www.scratchjr.org/, which is geared to learners age 5 - 7, available for the iPad and Android tablets.
There are a wide range of resources available at no cost for learning to use Scratch.The site at MIT provides a wealth of information. However, there are many others also available. Below we list some of our favorites. If you are a visual learner you may want to check out the YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/ScratchEdTeam. Harvard has a free curriculum guide, An Introductory Computing Curriculum Using Scratch, at http://scratched.gse.harvard.edu/guide/. You might also check out CS First (https://www.cs-first.com/), a free resource from Google. This site provides free lesson plans that come with curriculum and provide additional resources. There are 9 units available and more information is on their website. All the units require that the students use Scratch. One recent article that includes additional resources is 25 Resources to Teach Programming with Scratch, at http://www.ipadsammy.com/techlandiaradioblog/2015/7/26/25-resources-to-teach-programming-with-scratch. Great Books
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If you are looking for a website that provides coding opportunities for students from PreK - 12 this is a great site to check out. Code.org (https://code.org/) provides a wide range of free classes that students may take, as well as being a resource for Hour of Code. They offer free professional development for the courses geared to elementary school.
Welcome to Code-a-Pillar, a new "think and learn" toy from Fisher-Price. The Code-a-Pillar allows young learners to practice problem-solving skills as they connect the segments of the caterpillar, each of which is programmed to do a specific move (or make a sound). The kit comes with 7 segments, and additional segments are available. There are reviews about this new toy on YouTube (type in code-a-pillar) that provide additional information, as does the Fisher-Price website (http://www.fisher-price.com/en_US/brands/think-and-learn/products/Think-and-Learn-Code-a-pillar).
A review on the Code-a-Pillar, Adorable Code-a-Pillar Teaches 3-Year-Olds the Basics of Coding is at http://mashable.com/2016/01/06/code-a-pillar/#yDrqQl0wn5qU. CodeSpark offers The Foos to educators at no cost. You can set up a teacher account by going to the CodeSpark Dashboard at http://dashboard.thefoos.com. Once you register you can set up a classroom, add students, and find many great resources. The Foos is now offering new program that learners may access via iPads and Android devices, but their is a monthly cost.
Did you know that we may teach learners computational thinking skills without a computer? Activities that promote this type of activities are called unplugged, and in the section below we are books, websites, and a video that may help you in this journey.
First a short video to introduce this idea. The CS Unplugged (http://csunplugged.org/) provides great ideas for unplugged activities to use in your classroom.
There are many great books available that bring up programming concepts that will engage young readers. Check out this Computer Programming Pinterest page (https://www.pinterest.com/wallaby213/computer-programming-books/) to learn more. |